Keep the Change
by sarahofearth
Summary: To Polly. Jess is sent on a whirlwind of events that leave him to fight for the life of his Uncle Luke and... Dean's? Will our favorite rebel leave the hostage situation unscathed? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Okay, so I'm a day late on arrival. I wanted to get this in on Milo's birthday but, whatever, so I'm fashionably late. This is my first GG fic. I've written a few in the past but deleted them 'cause they sucked so bad. Hopefully you guys like this one. I'm a bit iffy on the style I chose to write it in. GG dialogue is hard to pull off…

_To Polly, who's a brilliant girl with wonderful taste._

**Disclaimer:**The characters and story used herein belong to Amy Palladino, who, if she knew I was using them, would probably tear it up and use it for kitty litter. Tee hee.

XxxxXXXxxxX

"I'm going to miss this place," Jess announced, stepping backwards towards the front door to admire the empty apartment. Light flooded through the slats through the window above the kitchen sink, giving the room the classic peaceful feel the 17-year-old had come to appreciate.

"Yeah, get over it and out of my way. These boxes need to be filled, pronto." Luke said, shoving Jess aside as he stepped through, hands grasping stacks of folded cardboard. The scruffy and tired diner owner set the soon-to-be containers on the kitchen table and began the struggle of assembling them into their rightful cube shapes. After tugging at the cardboard for several minutes, Jess watching amused from afar, Luke threw it down with an irritated huff. "When they say boxes and you pay for boxes, you should get boxes. This 'assembly-not-included' crap is false advertisement."

"You should sue." Jess suggested, nodding at the cardboard.

"Don't think I won't." Luke pointed a finger.

Jess rolled his eyes, walked over, and began expertly folded the cardboard together until it stood erect in its proper box shape. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Luke pursed his lips and gave Jess an incredulous look. "You couldn't do that, oh I don't know, five minutes ago… When I was literally strangling the thing?"

"And miss the show?" Jess tilted his head. "I'm a lot of things, Uncle Luke, but a party pooper will never be one of them."

"Didn't I already tell you to stop with the Uncle Luke thing? How would you like it if I called you Nephew Jess?"

"Hm… Pithy."

"Forget I asked." He wiped a hand across his face in a vain attempt to sober him from the stress of moving. Jess wasn't helping; then again, when was empathy ever listed in Jess' dictionary? "You. Finish up with the rest of these boxes. I have more cardboard you can work your magic on in the truck."

"Aye-aye." Luke stalked out of the room as Jess set to work of converting the flat materials into useable storage space. When Luke returned later with more boxes, he also brought news that he'd be going to the market for adequate packing supplies. Jess made little sign that he had heard his uncle but did grunt at the notion. Luke grabbed his gloves to better brave the brisk autumn weather outside before going into the cold once more. That was Stars Hallow for you; it's season's were as common as the story books.

Soon, Jess had eight completed boxes, ranging in size from big to huge, scattered across the apartment. Once idle (at least in Jess' opinion; Luke was always handing out to-do lists.), Jess studied what he had come to call "home" in the past two years.

In all honesty, Jess had never thought the apartment too small while Luke was insistent that two people living there was far exceeding its maximum occupancy. The boy wasn't certain if it was because he was used to such cramped quarters (he lived in New York, for crying out loud, the most overpopulated stretch of land in the country.) or because Luke was used to being alone. Either reasons were of no consequence to Jess; he was just trying to find excuses to stay.

Jess would never tell Luke this of course. The new house had already been stressfully picked and paid for; the moving part was the final bump Luke had to drag himself over. The thought of telling Luke he wanted to stay after his uncle had tried so hard to include him in the home-assessing decision made Jess' usually healthy stomach churn with guilt.

Two years ago, Jess wanted to escape from the lousy hole-in-the-wall Luke had labeled his new room. Now, it felt weird being out of his tranquil space-The quiet space, free from yelling, sirens, and worry. Jess couldn't imagine being happier anywhere else. His books played roles to carry him away from the reality of his problems and to bring him to someplace pleasant, but the calm of the apartment made him have to use them for sanction less and less. No place else would ever have the same look, feel, scent, or sound…

The thought of "sound" knocked Jess out of his internal struggle and caused him to cast deep brown eyes upon the wooden clock above the fireplace. The device had annoyed him on several occasions in the dead of the night with its incessant ticking. Every time Jess begged Luke to relieve them from its booming tick, his uncle refused, citing that it had been there since he was a kid. Jess' mouth didn't help the situation (as its customary), stating that the Old Folk's Home called and they wanted their depressing childhood stories back.

_At least one good thing is coming from this move… _Jess thought, walking resolutely to the clock and staring up at its dusty face. _I can finally get rid of this._ He reached for it, stretched his arm to its full length, even had the gall to stand on the tip of his toes, but still found he couldn't reach high enough. Huffing, Jess landed on his heels again and looked with clenched jaw upon the taunting old timepiece. It never looked that high before and Jess would never admit to being that short.

Reaching for it a second time, Jess saw a hand extending above his and removing the clock from the wall, leaving a white circle in its place. Rather than survey the filth of the walls, Jess swiveled around to meet the snatcher.

Dean Forrester, 6 foot 4 and highly capable of snatching anything in the vicinity of a cloud. Thing was, what was he doing in the vicinity of Jess? It wasn't news that the two young men didn't get along, and Jess was positive the months of conflict regarding a certain Gilmore ensured no need for a memo on the subject. Although Jess thought Dean an incompetent ogre, surely nobody could be so stupid as to step on a fellow rival's private territory. It should be instinctive!

Dean offered a small smile and held the clock out for Jess. "Uh, it looked like you were trying to get this." Jess made no move to take it, increasing the situation's awkwardness to its boiling point.

"What are you doing here?"Jess pressed, giving Dean his trademark scowl. Since Jess wasn't with Rory, the only thing the two had in common, (and it was unlikely Dean came over for some book recommendations) the shorter young man really was curious but substituted his budding interest with a tight-lipped frown.

"Look, I ran into Luke over by Doose's-" Dean began to explain but was interrupted by Jess.

"You looking for a job then? Something to keep the wife's credit cards satisfied?"

"No, uh," Dean looked down at the old rug, struggling for words. "Chelsea- well, she and I are getting a divorce."

Jess was caught off guard at the words and his furrowed brows rose a few inches at the revelation.

"I'm actually here to see if you need any help. Luke told me you were moving," Dean said. He looked at the apartment full of contents that needed organizing.

Jess remained silent, humbled for the time being. He snapped out of his sheepish thoughts and decided that Dean probably didn't need to hear any of his sarcastic remarks.

"I saw the moving truck downstairs; I can start lifting some of this furniture in it." Dean offered.

Jess nodded. "Just don't break your leg on the way down the stairs," he reminded.

"And what do I do if a resident tries to dash in for some coffee?"

"It's called a blunt object. I'm sure you don't need me to elaborate." Dean chuckled, hoisting up a weighty side-table and making his way out the door. After hearing Dean leave, Jess proceeded to kill the clock he was handed once and for all as he ruminated on the news of his rival's separation.

Luke's heavy footsteps up the stairs found its way to Jess' ears. Jess decided not to look up as the door swung open, knowing right away it was uncle from months of hearing the disgruntled plod. Once Luke entered, he turned his attention to the mousy-haired boy taking the batteries out of his father's clock above the trash can.

"Hey, hey, hey," Luke said, rushing over to snatch the clock away from Jess' hands. Jess looked up from his clock-murdering and glowered up at the man. "What are you doing, Jess? We already discussed that you keep your jam-hands off the clock."

"Jam hands, Luke?"

"It's a phrase."

"Never heard of it."

"People older and wiser than you say it. Speaking of which, what are you doing touching the clock?"

"'Speaking of which'? That doesn't make any sense. You were talking about people older and wiser and then you claim that's related to clocks. I don't see the connection."

"Stop avoiding the subject. You're ripping out the batteries from my grandfather's clock. How'd you even reach that high?" Luke eyed the vacant circle where the clock used to hang with confusion.

"Are you questioning my height?" Jess looked offended.

"I'm merely saying that it doesn't look exactly in your reaching range."

"You're calling me short."

"I'm not calling-" Luke sighed, shaking his head. "Look, I'm just wondering how you managed to get the clock down when it's obvious you didn't use a step stool."

"Now you're saying I need a step stool. Wow, Luke, that is a low blow."

"Jess…" Luke was at that point closing his eyes, looking on the verge of ripping his already thinning hair out.

"Dean got it."

"What?" Luke opened his eyes and halted his hands from tearing out his locks.

"The clock. Dean tapped into his Goliath-heritage and got it off the wall." Jess was busy tearing out the final battery as Luke was distracted processing the answer.

"Dean was here?" He stated.

"He walked down the stairs when you came in," Jess reminded. Luke still held a question mark in his eyes. "You didn't see him."

"No, well- I saw him on my way to the market and we talked-"

"He already told me the story; I got it." Jess said, holding up a hand and walking to place the clock in one of the boxes. The boy contemplated sneaking it into the trash for fear that it would only be situated some place higher where it could wreak havoc with its incessant ticking in the new house.

Jess glanced at Luke to see if he was paying any attention to the clock situation. His uncle wasn't. In fact, the man with the backwards baseball cap had the look on his face that told him the clock was the last thing on his mind. That was to be expected since they were moving, but Jess was getting the feeling Luke wasn't getting worked up about the current packing schedule.

"Luke?" Jess said, fixing his uncle with a steady look. Luke snapped out of his glazed over trip to dreamland.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, you just looked a little too interested in that outlet there." Jess walked around the kitchen counter to stare at the spot Luke's eyes had the misfortune of resting upon. He crossed his arms in similar fashion to his uncle's as he surveyed the spot. "Honestly, gotta say it's that little stain by the doorframe I'm going to miss most."

"Stop being a smart-alec," Luke said, resisting the urge to slap his nephew upside the head. "I was just thinking about Dean being here."

"And the fact that he and I didn't kill each other yet?" Jess said, finishing Luke's sentence. "Yeah, I thought I would cut him some slack since he's going through that divorce. It's gotta be rough. Can't imagine why he would want to help us move while he's going through his own property battle. The guy's addicted to manual labor, I swear-"

Before Jess could continue his demeaning rant, Luke cut him off.

"Whoa, wait a minute." Luke turned to Jess. "Are you telling me he didn't tell you why he's here?"

Jess quirked an eyebrow and answered, "He said you wanted him to help us pack. I'm sensing that wasn't the only prize in the box."

"So… He didn't say anything about him moving in with us for a while?" Jess' eyes widened and his head whipped to the subject of their conversation who was reentering the room in all his tall, shaggy-haired glory.

_Him_? Moving in with _them_? For a while? The fact that these words were flashing in his head 200 times a second didn't seem to make it less impacting.

Dean looked between the two men and could already make out by the look on Jess' face that he was better off outside, out of the dark-eyed boy's line of vision.

Jess swallowed and replied, "No, I guess he forgot to mention that little piece of information."

Averting his eyes to the door, Jess marched out, leaving a stunned Dean and worried uncle in his wake.

"Jess," Luke called after the boy. He knew it was useless, for had Jess stopped, he wouldn't have one persuasive thing to say. It was tough going into an argument with someone as stubborn as Jess.

Dean sighed, trying to remove the pressure that had built inside of him. "That's pretty much how I pictured this moment."

XxxxXXXxxxX

Jess was sitting on the counter of the diner. He could think of fifty better places to brood, sulk, and hate Dean, but those spots were too cold and Jess was too pissed to have remembered his jacket. One hand, he didn't want to look like an idiot going back upstairs to retrieve his jacket, on the other, he didn't want to look like an idiot shivering in the cold with no jacket on.

This blew.

Jess was busy pouring over thought of looking like an idiot and how pissed he was that Luke had just swept Dean into their lives without consulting him when a one Candace Evans walked through the diner doors.

An instinctive, "We're closed" Left Jess' lips before he could look up at the athletic, blonde woman hanging her multi-colored scarf on the coat stand. Candace Evans was the attractive real estate agent who had been with Luke and Jess every step of their moving journey, finally helping them to decide upon the house they could agree upon. Luke had a thing for her that Jess had troubles restraining taunts for.

"Hey, Jess, how's your day treating you?" The boy found it odd that the amiable woman would phrase it in such a way, seeing as his day was literally punching him in the gut right about then.

"Good if you discount the fact that Luke invited one of my least favorite people to live with us for awhile without bothering to see how I felt about the conditions." Jess said, deciding he didn't want to be his regular cryptic self. Candace had a way with people that perfectly qualified her for her job. "I'm beginning to see why this is such a small town. With citizens like this, what's not to love, you know?"

Candace reacted with her crooked smile, walking over to Jess to lay a hand on his back.

"Jess, depending on how you look at it, this can be a blessing or a curse," consoled Candace.

"The likelihood of this being a blessing is looking pretty slim."

"This could be chance for you to become friends with this person." Candace proposed.

"Based on our history, Dean and I are as close to becoming friends as a magnet's positive and negative sides are to touching."

"Maybe those sides just need a little nudge."

"Maybe I should just use a different analogy," Jess responded. "One with a stronger sense of the word 'repulsion.'"

Candace laughed, "Jess, is he really that bad? Now answer seriously, has he ever tried to kill your uncle?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Ever tried to kill you?"

"We got into it a couple times, yeah."

Candace gave him a pressing look.

"But I guess _murder_ wasn't really his intention, so no."

"Well if that's the case, then I'm not seeing much reason for you to want to estrange yourself from him completely."

"Wow, Candace, your definition of the word 'enemy' must leave you with a lot of friends."

"I'm a humanitarian. What can I say?" Candace shrugged, taking her warming hand off the square of Jess' back. "I think you should give this Dean guy the benefit of the doubt."

Jess sighed, sifting it over. If Dean really didn't give him much reason to hate him, what was the problem with that? All Dean had proven to him recently was that he was a poor guy with a lousy marriage that needed some help in his time of need.

"I guess you're right," Jess nodded, looking off into the distance. "But Luke is still on probation for pulling a stunt like this."

Candace held up her hands in defeat. "I wasn't going to push my luck on that one."

Jess gave the closest thing to a smile he could muster at that moment. He had compromised a lot just then despite being notorious for his usually obstinate nature. The fact that the negotiation was accepting Dean, his long-term rival, as a new roommate made the choice all the more difficult.

The arrival of footsteps making their way down the stairs caused both diner occupants to look up with surprise. Luke stopped at the final landing and stared at the two.

"Jess?" He said, looking puzzled. "Candace? What-What are you doing here?"

"Damage control, I guess," Candace said, walking over to the coffee machine and pouring herself a mug. "Jess told me about your new tenant."

Luke stared at said boy who was acting like nothing was going on. Typical Jess to show no sign of actually confirming the conversation had even taken place.

"He did?" Luke asked, befuddled.

"He said he was fine with it." Candace announced, stirring in some cream and sugar.

"He is?" Luke asked, with a far more bewildered expression than with the last question.

"I am," Jess supported. Surprising Luke with statements that made his jaw drop was something Jess prided himself in; this time was no different as Jess glanced with pleasure at the wide-eyed, gaping face of his uncle.

"But the storming out and the death glare- that was just your way of saying 'I'm fine with this." Luke held out his hands, looking incredulous. "What are you? The king of mixed signals?"

"All hail." Jess stated.

Candace laughed. It was obvious Jess was enjoying giving Luke a hard time while Luke stayed mystified as to what just took place.

For the second time that hour, someone plodded down the stairs and paused to see just why Jess wasn't halfway to his "thinking bridge" by then.

"Jess," Dean addressed, flicking his eyes from the unfamiliar lady to the introverted boy on the counter. "What are you still doing here?"

"Apparently," Luke answered, breaking out of his shell-shocked state. "Jess says it's all right if you board with us."

Dean's eyebrows disappeared from underneath his shaggy bangs at the revelation.

"Really?" Dean asked, turning to Jess.

"Really," Jess replied, nodding.

"He did some reevaluating," Candace supplied, beginning to get tired of Jess' all-too-curt answers that left Dean and Luke in total darkness. She knew Jess thought being mysterious was part of what made him interesting but, to most, it was what made him infuriating. "Just leave it at that."

Luke and Dean offered the same slow nods, willing to accept the offer if it meant Dean could stay with them for awhile. Luke just hoped Jess was as confident in his decision as he seemed.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Once every last item in the apartment had been loaded into the moving truck, it was time to take the 15-minute drive to the new house. Jess watched with shaded eyes as Dean and Luke loaded the final bookshelf into the U-Haul. Would he ever get used to the idea of having this guy he barely knew around? Once Dean pulled down the sliding door and jumped off the truck's bumper, Luke stalked over to Jess.

"All right, ready to go? We need to unpack the necessities at the house before it gets dark," Luke was looking in his nephew's uncharacteristically guarded eyes. Sure, the kid was always Johnny Rain-Cloud, but his eyes lacked their usual sharpness.

Jess looked down, shoving his hand in his coat's pockets.

"I think I'll ride with Candace; she said she's going to the house so I'll just meet you there." Luke couldn't help the sting of disappointment at the answer. Luke had thought Jess was over the Dean situation but apparently the acceptance would take longer than just an exhausting packing session.

Weary and frustrated, Luke sighed, "Jess…" The dark-haired teen flicked his eyes to his uncle's. "If this is about Dean-"

"It's not," Jess cut him off. "I just don't think there's much room left in the front seat with both of you guys. Plus, you gotta stop off at Dean's to pick up some stuff and handling the tension of a feuding husband and wife isn't my idea of a good time. But, good luck to you."

Luke nodded, not completely satisfied with the answer but willing to let it pass… For now.

"All right, Jess, but we are going to talk about this- this Dean thing." Luke said.

"Dean thing. Is that what we're calling it now because it's got a nice ring to it."

"I'm serious," Luke said, laying a hand on Jess' shoulder, frowning as Jess flinched at the touch. Jess looked at Dean who was climbing into the passenger side of the truck.

"You better go. You don't want to leave _Dean_ waiting." Jess hadn't meant to, but venom slipped into his tone, causing Luke's frown to deepen with unease. Jess stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets, stepping off the sidewalk to walk over to Candace's parked car.

Luke stared after his nephew, who settled himself in the Altima's front seat, feeling the slowly-closing gap between them widen a few feet. Just when he thought he could touch the kid somehow, someway something screwed it up. Luke felt like he was in a maze and every opening was just leading to another dead end. Could Luke ever go _right_?

Candace walked up behind Luke and tugged on his coat. Luke snapped his head to her furrowed eyebrows from his troubling reverie. "Hey, you okay?" she asked, concern etched in her angled features.

"I've had better days," Luke admitted. Next to Lorelei, Candace was one of the only people Luke felt he could safely confide in. She had helped them find the perfect house that somehow fit both Jess and Luke's needs. Not to mention she got along with Jess, making her almost an anomaly in Luke's eyes. He mustered the courage to look in her auburn eyes. "I hope it's all right… He wants to ride with you to the house."

"Yeah, it's fine. My meeting's at four so I'll just drop him off." Candace nodded and looked at the boy in her passenger seat, who was, big surprise, reading a dog-eared copy of Hemingway. Jess looked distracted despite having his head buried in the novel. Candace gave the worry-stricken Luke a sideways glance. "He's going to be all right, you know. The fact that he's so worked up about this is only because he loves you. He just has," she paused, searching for words. "A funny way of communicating it."

Luke offered the floor a smile that largely resembled a grimace. "The only thing I know for sure Jess _loves_ is his books and himself. If I fall under anything, it's probably the 'Enemies' side of the list."

"Hey now, don't be so hard on yourself, Luke. Jess just has difficulty adjusting with new things." Candace tried. "Give him time, okay? You better go; I think Dean is getting restless."

Luke sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right, about Jess."

"And Dean. He looks kind of fidgety." Luke gave her a look at the immature reminder. She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I just like being told I'm right. You can't overlook any win, no matter how small."

Luke replied with a very non-grimace-like smirk. Few people could make the gruff and tough Luke show genuine happiness, but Candace wasn't a regular person. Jess would owe it in part to that she was pretty and Luke had the hots for her, but Luke liked her for reasons even he didn't quite understand. She was a mystery, holding a secret in her brown eyes that Luke couldn't quite place his finger on. Whatever it was, Luke, truthfully, found it rather attractive. He wasn't about to tell anybody, particularly Jess, this little tidbit though.

"Thanks for taking Jess. Make sure he gets in all right." Luke reminded, his parental senses surfacing.

"Aye-aye," Candace said, giving a familiar fake salute.

"You've been hanging out with Jess too much," Luke commented at the sarcastic gesture.

"What can I say? He's a good kid." Candace smiled, waving as Luke got into the front seat of the cumbersome vehicle and drove off into the evening sunlight. Candace turned and climbed into her own car, spying Jess sending wary glances at the retreating moving truck, before starting the engine. "Don't worry; your CD collection probably won't sustain too much damage."

Jess turned his black-haired head to her in indiscernible surprise. It unnerved Jess how even the smallest of glances didn't escape Candace's sharp gaze. The teen simply shook his head and withdrew into his novel. When life gave him lemons, Jess pulled out his book and let the lemons lie.

Minutes passed in relative silence as Jess was transfixed on Hemingway's story and Candace was talking on her cellphone. Jess knew he was probably acting petty, but the actual sight of seeing Dean in _his_ new house would probably be less grating to bear if he didn't help move in Dean's boxes. For the rest of the slow, dull ride, Jess continued to depart deeper into his paperback, trying to fend off any thought of real life far away from his mind.

XxxxXXXxxxX

The car halted, his door flung open, and Jess was struggling against a strong hold on his shirt that was pulling him from his unbuckled seat. As Jess was sent flying onto the cold asphalt, he finally got a better look the surroundings he had so blissfully ignored. This definitely wasn't the neighborhood offered in the brochure.

Trash littered the street and the majority of the shambled homes had a heavy infestation of weeds in their front yards. The area was deserted and filthy, the collecting rainclouds not helping in adding any glitz to the murky and cold streets. Unfortunately, admiring the sordid view was cut short as Jess found himself being forcibly hauled to his feet and pushed in the direction of a rundown two-story house, not any less paint-chipped and derelict as the others in the region.

Jess' fight instincts finally kicked past the initial surprise of being thrown to the floor and shepherded to the shady abode, and, without warning, he brutally punched the sturdy man dragging him in by the forearm in the face. "Mfm!" The man gasped, clutching the fountain of blood squirting from his nose, allowing the freed Jess to make a dash for escape.

"Hold it!" A steely voice ordered. Jess would probably have kept running under different circumstances but the well-known "click" of the handgun halted his steps almost immediately. "Turn around slowly."

Candace. Jess couldn't believe his eyes. The "These countertops are real granite" real estate agent never looked more out of place with the pistol in her hand but her set jaw and stern eyes told Jess she meant business.

The man stumbled over, looking at the blood that was dripping down his meaty fingers. He was a well-built man in his early forties with surprisingly handsome features. For some reason he looked familiar to Jess and then it hit the boy: Dirk Brimley. The guy on all the buses who was running for Senator.

Words couldn't express how baffled Jess was to have a gun pointed at him held by Luke's real estate agent who was in cahoots with the Senator nominee who had only recently touted his belief in peace for the townspeople. If this was some one's idea for a joke, it was unquestionably sick and twisted in nature.

"Thought you said he wasn't going to fight," The man grunted, noticeably angry at the punch that had tarnished his prized face.

"Oh he won't, Sweetie, not when he hears what I've done to his precious uncle." Jess' eyes suddenly regarded her with undivided attention. Luke was in danger. How? Why? Although the kid's head was spinning, he kept his face as hard as he could muster.

"What have you done with Luke?" Jess asked, voice hostile.

"Oh nothing yet," Candace's tone conveyed innocence with a chance of danger. "And we'll keep it that way, if you just get your butt inside that house."

Jess knew he couldn't do that. If he did, he'd be trapped with two obviously deranged and armed persons. But if Luke was in jeopardy and if Jess was the only one who could do anything about that, the boy was more than willing to slowly and carefully walk through the creaky front door.

Once inside the shabby living room with the peeling wallpaper and dusty furniture, Jess was roughly shoved into the grimy couch that let up a cloud of smoke as his body made contact with it.

"Can't believe you just did this to my face." Dirk spat, glaring at Jess with annoyance. "I'll be in the makeup chair for hours because of you."

"Honey," Candace said sickly sweet to the man who she was obviously dating, resting a hand on his broad shoulder. "You can worry about your face later. Right now we need to explain to Jess the rules of this new arrangement."

"What do you want with me?" Jess said, making an effort to sound intimidating instead of scared. His heart was beating a tattoo on his chest and his breathing was becoming a force to be reckoned with, but somehow, probably from his years of practice, he found the ability to fix his captors with a steady, obstinate scowl.

"You," Dirk said, pointing a threatening finger at Jess. "Don't talk. You're going to listen to what we have to say and you're not going to say a word about it. You're going to do it, no questions asked, and you know why? Because as we speak, your uncle is stepping into a house with thirty pounds of explosives hidden safely inside of it. And I think you can take a guess at who holds the detonator."

Candace held up a black device that looked similar to the keypads that unlocked a car. Jess looked at the gadget with suspicion but kept his mouth shut. He couldn't tell if they were bluffing because they looked so darn serious. Jess swallowed.

"What do you want?" Jess asked again, this time with the voice of one about to lay down his life. That was, Jess sensed, what he had to do.

"Nothing terrible," Dirk shrugged, putting his hands in his pleated pockets. He wore a basic coucilman's outfit with blue slacks, white dress shirt, and bright red tie. The American hero was keeping Jess hostage along with his smarmy realtor girlfriend. Jess felt trapped in a secret agent film that he had no part in. "We just need you to unearth some dirt for us -Something that takes my running opponent out of the ballot permanently and assures my standing as Connecticut's senator."

"How do you expect me to do that?" Jess blurted out after hearing the details of the bargain. "I'm not a reporter."

"Ah, but you are smart," Candace cut in. "And we know for a fact that Senator-hopeful Sean Hallowell has a daughter about your age."

"You want me to seduce her?" Jess asked incredulously. They had all their bets riding on him being able to astound some girl. This was ridiculous.

His face must have said "You people are completely insane" because Dirk's face screwed up in anger and he pulled his hand out of his pocket to backhand Jess across the face, hard.

"Now, listen, tough guy," Dirk said, looming over Jess with a menacing glare on his handsome features. "The deal is you get the dirt and then you can keep your uncle, got it? Or am I going to have to make this _clearer_?" He cracked his knuckles in classic bully style, prompting a thought of how he had made his way so far up the political ladder: Brute force.

Jess nodded as he ducked his head to smear the blood off his mouth.

"Good." Dirk said with a sneer. "I didn't want to mess up your face too bad. We're going to need it." He and Candace guffawed at his poor excuse of a joke.

"I just have one question," Jess piped up if only to stop the couple's irksome laughing. Had Luke been there, he would've slapped his nephew upside his head for being his usual pain in the butt self. "If you're going to be a senator, what's up with the ghetto housing? Getting elected taking that much out of you."

"Oh, this place? This is only temporary." Dirk answered snidely. "We're only here so nobody calls the police when we do this."

The 6'4 beast heaved a struggling Jess off the grimy sofa and dragged him over to a door. After Dirk yanked it open, only one thing was on Jess' mind as he was hurled into the darkness of the cramped coat closet:

He wanted Luke.

XxxxXXXxxxX

**A/N:** -sighs- There all finished. This had a long way coming but hopefully I can get the next chapters up in a more speedy fashion. Reviews usually help the process! Thanks for reading, guys.

_Special thank you to 123Kennedy who helped get the ideas flowing. Ready for Round 2, Ken?_

Have nice days,

-Sarah


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** A lot of angst in this chapter. Sorry if it seems slow at points. I'm going somewhere with this story; don't worry.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Jess stretched his aching muscles on the warm duvet he was sprawled out on. He opened bleary eyes, squeezing them quickly shut as the sunlight assaulted his tired pupils. Jess blindly grabbed a nearby pillow and covered his face with it, trying to block out the abusive rays.

He stopped and snapped his eyes open as he fingered the ripple-textured fabric.

Jess shot up on the bed, sending his already throbbing head spinning with dizziness. Trying to steady his swimming vision, Jess focused on the closet adjacent to the bed. Once coherent, Jess studied the rest of the room he had finally realized was the guest suite of his captors' home.

The tan-blanketed bed was shoved against an empty wooden bookcase, light streamed through two large glass windows, framed by wispy curtains, and the off white carpet was immaculate from disuse- which was surprising, Jess thought sardonically, seeing as both the senator nominee and realtor were ever so hospitable.

At the thought of the villainous couple, Jess cast a bitter gaze upon his arm, more specifically the frightening number of bruises he had sustained from his stay at the shabby house in the slums of Connecticut. Or so was where he assumed he had been. Dirk and Candace made sure he was ignorant of his exact location, making an escape or phone call more difficult that it already was.

He could remember being in complete darkness for hours, only listening to the muffled voices of Dirk and Candace as well as the occasional TV show through the locked door of the confined closet. Being claustrophobic was the least of his worries, Jess soon discovered, for at random intervals Dirk would swing the door open and beat Jess within an inch of his life, taking care not to do harm his face, of course.

This was a simple tactic a number of Liz' boyfriends had their chance to try out on Jess in the wee hours of the night. It was brutal and unfair, but it told Jess who was boss. Dirk was boss, and it only took thirteen punches to his abdomen, three arm twisting, four slams into a wall, seven kicks to various parts of his body, two stampings, and a small concussion for Jess to finally realize that he just had to keep his mouth shut and obey every single word that left Dirk's mouth.

These people were pros, Jess had soon learned. Dirk, although goonish and physically-minded, was careful and meticulous. He made sure Jess knew what the plan was, and how it was going to get done. More than the mission itself, the young hostage learned to keep his mouth shut and listen. Jess' usual fountain of mocking remarks had been plugged up quickly with weighty threats and physical attacks from both Dirk and Candace.

Dirk and Candace may have beaten Jess to near unconsciousness, but he still had one thing to live for. One person, to be exact. As Jess had laid battered and bleeding in the cramped coat closet, nobody there to have heard his distressed cries from Dirk's brutal thrashing, he had thought of Luke, his only escape from the physical and emotional pain he had been immersed in.

Sometimes thinking of Luke only made Jess more miserable. What hadn't he said to the man whom cared so much about him, whom Jess cared so much about? The answer was everything. It was the thought of all his indifference towards the only comforting figure in his pathetic young life that kept Jess' will to fight the dangerous cons.

Someway, Jess was going to escape and tell Luke how much he really appreciated him. How sorry he was for all the trouble he caused in his life. Although his pride would be in shreds, Jess could really care less. At this point, being the "rebel without a cause" was the last thing on his mind. He had to make the change. If it was his dislike for his uncle that got him into this mess, it was going to be his love for Luke that got him out.

With newfound determination burning in his eyes, Jess jumped up from the bed and strode over to the window leading to a typical suburban front yard complete with neatly-trimmed lawn and sparkling minivan. Once he was 

just about to slide the windowpane upwards, the door swung open. It was Candace, and she didn't look pleased to see Jess testing his boundaries. The kid was stubborn, that was obvious. No threat was big enough to deter him from escaping or from warning his precious uncle about the bomb set to go off at any second. She sneered.

"How idiotic do you think we are?" She barked with laughter as Jess' arms fell to his side with disappointment. The window didn't budge; it was ridiculous to have thought that it would.

"I think it's best if I ignore that question." Okay, so Jess wasn't completely cured of his biting comments. Rome wasn't built in a day either.

Candace's blue eyes spraked with anger, looking at him through slits. She overlooked the jab as she walked closer to him. Jess' body tensed as the blue-suited woman drew closer with a scrutinizing stare.

"I came in here because I heard you talking to someone." She announced.

Jess gawked at the woman with genuine confusion. He raised a questioning eyebrow that made her twitch with annoyance. His expression obviously read, _Are you crazy?_

"Look, you little snot, just because you're not saying it, doesn't make it okay. I can tell when you're thinking smart-alec insults too." She jabbed a manicured finger at him.

"I wasn't talking to anybody." Jess ground out in verbal reply.

"Well you were yelling at some one. Dirk and I could hear you all the way from downstairs." She said. "Now tell me, who was it?"

Jess continued to offer the same mystified expression. It was impossible trying to convince a woman like this that he wasn't doing anything worthy of suspicion.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Candace, really" Jess tried. "I was just sleeping here."

Candace looked at the bed and finally a look of realization swept over her. She began laughing hysterically, increasing Jess' confusion level, if that was possible. The woman truly was every bit as crazy as Jess thought she was.

"Aww," Candace intoned with the voice she saved for young children. "I guess Jessy's nightmares are just getting worse."

The young man's eyes flashed at the word. "I don't have nightmares," he asserted. Candace just shook her head with a condescending smirk.

"Whatever you say. You wouldn't know since the whimpering and moaning only fall on my and Dirk's ears. The yelling is going to be a problem though. Keep it up and you might not find you new sleeping arrangements quite as open as this one." Candace winked and started walking towards the door, leaving a disturbed Jess in her wake.

Night terrors had plagued Jess since his mother starting to bring home the wrong kind of boyfriends. The type of prizes that thought Jess' face looked better imprinted in the wall than on his head. The troubled youth hated them. They showed his weakness, his fear that he worked hard to cover up with walls of apathy, which is why he had tried to cover up his distress with rock music. It wasn't a lullaby, it was a muffler.

But then they stopped, a week after he moved in with Luke. The nightmares were a distant memory buried with the other corrosive habits Jess had endured in New York. As far as Jess was concerned, his past was never going to be a concern with his future. Oh, how wrong he had been…

Candace interrupted his throng of thoughts, entering the room again.

"C'mon, Dirk needs you in his office." She said, exiting again with Jess in tow. He followed the blonde woman down the stairs of their elegant suburban home, examining the back of the woman he had once trusted and realizing how his whole outlook for her had changed in just a couple of days. She walked in a new light, a deceitful and unsightly one. Jess' heart burned with hatred for both people, at that moment it glowed brighter with his need to survive and protect Luke.

Crossing the finely furnished living room, Candace picked up her expensive purse from one of the imported loveseats and turned to Jess.

"Dirk is through those double doors;" Jess looked over her shoulder where she had cast a dainty finger. The doors had extravagant engravings in its cherry wood surface while two "Vote Brimley for Senate" leaned neatly against them. "Make sure you knock because he might be on an important call."

Jess groaned internally; he hated talking to Dirk. Their "talks" usually entailed a one-sided conversation of Dirk telling him what to do and Jess leaving with unpleasant bruises. He turned his sights on Candace, curious why she would be willing to miss the exciting exchange. "Where are you going?"

"Well, not that it's any of your business, I'm doing damage control at Luke's." Jess' ears perked up at the sound of the name. "He's not holding up too well with your running away. He blames himself, of course, the old softie."

"How is he?" Jess asked, trying to feign an air of casualness but failing.

"Oh I don't know Jess, I'll make sure to tell him you asked though. It's in my best interest to play messenger between grieving uncle and missing nephew after all." She said sarcastically. Before Jess could get another question out, Candace had walked out the door.

Jess sighed looking at the floor as he walked slowly to the wooden doors. He stared at the handsome face on the big campaign signs with disgust. Jess breathed, wondering how much longer he would be able to withstand staying with this man. But even though his heart ached, Jess would bear it. Luke was safe and that was all that mattered.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Luke placed one of Jess' weighty moving boxes on the kitchen island with a sigh. He stared at the transparent packing tape, debating whether picking it off would make him feel more miserable than he already felt. Staring at items wistfully gave him the sense that he had given up hope, and if there was anything that Luke wouldn't do for Jess, it was give up on him. He would never give up on his boy.

Luke took off his baseball cap and slid a hand through his grimy hair. He needed to shower. More importantly, he needed to sleep. It had been two days since the frightful realization that Jess had ran away. Two days filled with worry, stress, heartache, and panic. Why would Jess do such a thing? Was this a sick joke? Where could he be?

Questions plagued Luke night and day, making even the smallest of naps an impossibility. Sleep deprivation may have been a form of torture but the thought of his nephew's mysterious, inexplicable disappearance hurt Luke more than the worst forms of sufferings.

Dean carried twice the burden of knowing he was the reason for Jess' leaving and seeing Luke in near tears. The young man had considered leaving, feeling very unwanted and miserable in the new living arrangement, but knew it to be the cowardly thing to do in the situation. He had to help fix what he broke.

The two had set to work posting "Missing" signs around town, worrying all of the nosy citizens in the process. Rory and Lorelei were doubly broken up about the debacle, promising to help as much as they could to find Jess.

Nothing seemed to be working. Luke and Dean were about as close to finding Jess as when they started. It was as if Jess had disappeared in a cloud of smoke, a thought that had crossed everybody's mind the past two days. Still, Luke swore he would never give up. Not now, not ever.

The front door opened and Luke looked with overly hope-filled eyes at the intrusion. His eyes dulled over with exhaustion once again at the site of the blonde real estate agent.

"Hey, Candace," Luke greeted, voice thick with tiredness.

"Hello," she replied, walking over to the worse-for-wear tenant. She set her purse next to the box labeled "Jess Books. Fragile." in the teen's tidy scrawl and asked with a sincere look of concern, "How are you holding up?"

"Worse," Luke answered in the same monosyllabic fashion his nephew spoke in. Candace regarded his baggy eyes, untamed goatee, and disheveled locks carefully.

"You don't look too good." She stated and Luke cast her an incredulous look. "I didn't mean it like that. You just look like you need to take a rest. Have you slept at all?"

"I'll sleep when Jess comes home," Luke said firmly, giving Candace a hard look. He knew nothing of her involvement in his nephew's kidnapping as she avow edshe had dropped Jess off right at the front door of the new home and even watched the kid go inside. No evidence of foul play had been detected by uncle or police.

"He will, Luke; I know it." She chanced a small smile, but Luke looked away. "He's coming back. My only concern right now is if he's going to want to hug a smelly old guy when he does."

This time Luke did give the tiniest of smirks. He stared at her with gratitude.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Just go upstairs, take a nice long shower, and I'll fix you and Dean something to eat." She said, patting him on the shoulder.

Luke nodded than sighed. "I'm afraid the only thing to eat right now is cold pizza. Dean and I haven't taken much time to go shopping."

"No worries. I'll go pick up some groceries from the Dooses'."

"You don't have to-" Luke started but Candace cut him off with her hand.

"I want to. You guys need to eat. You'll find Jess, but you don't have to be on an empty stomach to do it."

Luke nodded, smearing a hand across his tired face. "All right. Thank you, Candace."

"You're welcome, Luke." She said softly. The two looked in each other's eyes for a minute before the blonde woman blinked and pulled away with a disarming smile. "Um, I better get going. Tell Dean the good news, okay?"

Luke nodded and waved before heading up the stairs. At least he could always count on people to help the lighten the weight of the world.

XxxxXXXxxxX

There was knock at Dirk's door and the sparkling blue eyes that had won the hearts of many women flickered with annoyance at the young man that entered through the double doors.

"You know you're supposed to wait for me to say 'Come in'." Dirk sneered at the mousy haired boy who was having difficulty slowing his heartbeat as he entered the ornately decorated office.

Jess shrugged with forced coolness, "Sorry, my brains been a little off from that concussion you gave me."

"Keep talking like that and you'll have another," Dirk threatened with sincerity that Jess knew not to take for granted. "Come over here."

Jess hesitated, still planted in the same spot as he was before. Dirk just faced him with a stern glare, and with pain and reluctance, Jess plodded over behind the desk to Dirk's side. He flinched as Dirk stood up and tugged Jess' waistline wider to clip a microphone inside; he that attached the mic to the collar of the sweater Candace had given him at the old house.

The outfit was obviously not in his taste: khaki slacks, red and white dress shirt with a navy blue sweater over it; he was the "all-American Boy" as Luke would have snidely put it. Jess was far past complaining about the materialistic though. Candace could dress him in whatever she pleased as long as Luke was okay.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you what this is for," Dirk said and Jess nodded in agreement. The couple had taken a lot of precautions to make sure Jess didn't try to pull out any plans for escape. The boy was sure a simple note to this girl explaining his hostage situation would do the trick, but Dirk was two steps ahead as he fastened an American flag/concealed camera to the front of his pullover.

"Patriotic," Jess commented as Dirk finally finished bugging him. The young man stepped quickly back to his spot five feet away from the man as soon as the politician was through.

"We've been through this a hundred times so I don't want any screw ups, are we clear?"

"Sure," Dirk fixed him with an unyielding gaze. "Yes, I mean. We're clear."

"Good," he got up from his desk and started packing papers into his briefcase. "We're ready to go then."

XxxxXXXxxxX

Jess looked glumly out the window of Dirk's silver Porsche Ceyenne, a strong car that guzzled gas like it needed it to run the radio. The man beside Jess, known more commonly among the town folk as the "Bold Brimley," had just turned into a neighborhood that Jess suspected was the place that they were to finally begin Mission: Dirt.

Jess was too preoccupied with other things to conjure up a suitable name.

"This is it," Dirk announced as he rounded the fountain of a circling driveway to stop in front of the house's doorway. Jess gazed up at the two-story abode, admiring its 17th century feel. The house was a soft gray with charcoal trims on the roof and windows. Lush greenery surrounded the house with a cobblestone walkway leading to the glass front door. It gave off a pleasant aura that unnerved Jess.

What if these people were perfect and there was no dirt to be found? Could he woo this girl? What would become of him if these people had nothing to hide? Or a better question, what would happen to Luke?

Pushing the nagging thoughts aside, Jess steeled himself to his usual casual nature, clicking his seatbelt open in the process. _Can't turn back now, Mariano. _He told himself as he stepped out of the car. Dirk rounded around the front, 

sending one last questioning look at Jess. The man looked as uncertain as Jess felt. Hopefully, for Luke's sake, this would all be over soon.

Dirk rang the doorbell and Jess tugged at his sweater sleeve. A man answered that Jess recognized, from campaign posters and pictures from Candace, as Senator Nominee Stan Cooke.

"Hey, Dirk, how ya doing?" The tall, blonde man in a thick New York accent.

"Fine, fine," Dirk replied genially, an attitude Jess had trouble not scoffing at. The two shook hands in the doorway and then Stan ushered both guest into his richly furnished foyer. A white staircase rested immediately in front of the circular lobby while two doors to the right and left led to a living room and dining room respectively. Jess glanced up at the stained glass skylight above them that cast odd colors on the shiny oak wood floor. It was nearing noon from the brightness of the house, and a maid was bustling back from the dining room with several plates in her hand.

"It's so great of you to join me for lunch today." Stan said. Jess had never been in the prescence of men such as these before, but he was beginning to find that this experience, despite being held hostage, would be somewhat… Amusing. "It's always great to keep in contact with the rival side."

Dirk laughed a deep chortle. "It's my pleasure, Stan. Ah, yes, I'd like you to meet my nephew. This is Jess. He's a very big fan of politics and begged me to come along." He placed two hands on Jess' shoulders, and it took all the teen's power not to shudder the meaty mitts off with disgust. "Jess, this is Stan Cooke. Although I don't think he needs any introduction." Dirk winked, causing Stan to laugh.

Before Jess could tread on how awkward this could really become, a slender, blonde-haired girl descended down the cascading staircase. She had pouty pink lips and light brown eyes. A small, golden crucifix ordained her neck above a low-cut, purple sweater. She walked the steps daintily in strappy purple heels, spreading her hands over her tight jean skirt. She eyed Jess with a predatory gaze, reaching out a skinny, tanned arm once she arrived at the downstairs landing.

"Why hello there," She said, licking her glossy lips lightly. Her eyes flicked spitefully to Stan. "Aren't you going to introduce me, Daddy?"

"Of course, baby," he said dotingly. "Jess, this is my baby girl Brooke."

Jess timidly grasped her hand and shook it loosely, trying not to laugh at the ironic rhyme of "Brooke Cooke." She gave him a dazzlingly white smile in return.

"Mr. Cooke," the maid rang out in her accented voice. "Lunch is ready, sir."

"Okay, right this way." Stan said with a nod, motioning them all towards the dining room.

XxxxXXXxxxX

After Jess had tucked in his fill of the mini-banquet the Cooke's chef had prepared, he sat back in his chair with a sleepy look on his face. He had eaten a lot of the Cooke's meal since the past two days had consisted of near starvation with his captors, making the boy a very eager eater indeed. Brooke was sitting across from him, obviously impressed with the amount of food he had inhaled, while Dirk look less than pleased.

"Well, Stan, why don't we head to your office and look at those propositions." Dirk suggested, and Stan nodded.

"You betcha," he agreed, getting up from the table. He turned to Brooke. "Baby girl, give Jess the tour, will ya? I'm sure he'd love to see the view."

Brooke bobbed her head excitedly and got up to retrieve Jess' hand in hers. "C'mon, we can start with my room."

Jess looked up at Dirk who seemed thrilled with the gesture and Jess ducked his head in misery. At least Brooke's fondness for him meant one less worry for his deal with Dirk.

Jess plastered on a fake grin as he answered with feigned cheer, "Lead the way."

Once the two young people arrived in the room, Jess out of breath from all the running and Brooke elated at having the handsome guy in her presence, the former stopped to gawk at the bright and girly space. One had to first take notice of the walls which were coated all over in pink vines, a wallpaper collection made by Gwen Stefani, who the young woman obviously had an obsession for at the sight of the modern paintings of the red-lipped pop star hung on the walls. The bed, a white canopy with pink headboard, had a fluffy, baby pink comforter on it as well as feathered pillows and a hot pink bedskirt. Clothes were strewn across the blindingly white carpet and magazines lay across every surface of Brooke's vanity, computer desk, and dresser.

"Sorry, it's a bit messy, but this is my haven," she said, twirling her chest length, sandy blonde hair. Jess attempted to play his initial shock of seeing the room as a sort of awe-inspired wonder.

"Impressive," he commented, and she smiled, grabbing his hand and leading him over to her bed. She jumped in and Jess pushed aside a purple miniskirt before settling himself across the springy mattress.

"So, Jess, why'd you come along today?" she asked. _Oh, you know the usual. Using you as a detector for any dirt on your father._ Jess thought distastefully.

"I have an interest in politics," the young man lied, hoping it sounded believable. Brooke looked disappointed and Jess recanted quickly, catching the drift. "But now, I think I have more of an interest in you."

This seemed to cheer her up and she giggled, covering her mouth with her manicured nails. She removed her hand quickly though when a knock came at her door. Both occupants turned their head to look at the pink door with curiosity.

Brooke got up and opened it.

"Michael, what are you doing here?" Jess heard her ask. _Michael? Who's that?_ Jess couldn't remember Dirk or Candace ever giving him information on the name.

"Wondering what you're up to, sweet-lips." a deep, seductive voice answered in reply. _Boyfriend. Of course. _Only girls who already had boyfriends wanted to be with Jess. He gave off the bad boy feel that every girl who already had a good boy wanted a taste of.

"Um, nothing, just-just you know…" She stammered and Jess almost hid under the bed right there. A toned arm pushed open the door, revealing to Jess a strong-jawed, well-built playboy looking at the bed's sole occupant questioningly.

"What's he doing here?" the boyfriend, Michael, asked with obvious jealousy in his voice.

"It's not what you think, Michael,. He just came here with his uncle 'cause he's interested in politics." Brooke explained, placing a reassuring hand on the other young man's bulging bicep.

"I meant what's he doing in your room? You guys obviously aren't studying who'd make a good presidential candidate."

Brooke bit her lip, her IQ a bit too low to actually think up an appropriate lie. Good thing the ever-clever Jess was there to help her out.

"I really like Gwen Stefani so Brooke was just going to show me her new CD," Even before the words left his mouth, Jess could already feel the bad taste in his mouth. He would rather Dirk kick his guts out then have to listen to one of the platinum blonde's pointless lyrics. Unfortunately, the bluff backfired as Michael's face lit up with gladness.

"Really? I love her too man!" Michael exclaimed, gesticulating excitedly with his hands as he made his way over to the bed. Brooke seemed satisfied and repositioned herself on the bed as well. "Sweet lips, go put the new CD on."

Brooke thumbed through her collection, pulling out the latest Stefani release as Michael talked Jess' ear off.

"It's really uncommon to find guys that like her, you know?"

"Totally." Jess answered with a slow nod.

"What's your favorite song. It's a bit of a toss-up between 'Sweet Escape' and 'Rich Girl' but, that's just my opinion." Michael said thoughtfully.

"Um, well," Jess shrugged. "I guess I like them all. It's hard to choose just one."

"High-five, man. That's the best answer." Jess apprehensively high fived him as Gwen's voice filled the room. Brooke walked back over to the bed, dancing lazily to the beat, once she played the CD on her Mac.

"I love that your dad installed surround sound in your room. It makes the listening experience so much better." Michael commented, lounging back in Brookes bead against the pink headboard. Brooke nuzzled herself beside him as Jess sat awkwardly at the end, trying to seem as if he enjoyed the grating song.

They sat like that for two hours just listening to the album play… Thrice.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Jess never thought he would actually be happy to see Dirk but once the man came up to the room to retrieve Jess, the boy thought he could hug the man.

"Oh, I guess it's time to go," Jess announced and Brooke and Michael smiled at him.

"Really, but we were just about to pop in one of her older albums." Michael tempted Jess with the worst bait possible.

"Wow, I'm sorry I have to miss that." Jess lied, hurriedly getting up from the bed before Dirk got any ideas. Dirk moved aside to let Jess exit as he waved at the couple still lying on the bed.

"Glad to see you again, Brooke." He said, eyeing the bulky boy beside her with suspicion.

"Bye, Mr. Brimely." She yelled over the volume of the next CD.

He closed the door behind him, and he turned to snag Jess' sweater. Jess stopped to yell in protest bit his tongue at the hard look Dirk was giving him.

"Who was that kid beside her?" Dirk interrogated, searching Jess' eyes.

"Her boyfriend. I guess you didn't do your homework as well as you thought." Dirk seemed flabbergasted at the revelation as he mouthed the words "boy friend" silently. He composed himself again to give Jess a harsh jerk by his sweater.

"Look, I don't care if she's suddenly get married to the guy. You still need to get me dirt on Stan." Dirk seethed. Jess resisted the urge to wipe his face where the man had spat on him in his anger.

"How am I supposed to do that with her boyfriend around?" Jess asked. The task seemed an impossibility by all accounts.

"You're going to figure out a way and you'll do it by tomorrow night." The politician's voice held an underlying threat that caused Jess to gulp reflexively. He didn't bother complaining, knowing it was no use. It was either he use the few hours he had or risk losing Luke.

Knowing there wasn't any other option, Jess nodded dejectedly. Dirk released him by the sweater, a protruding wrinkle now in the fabric, and stalked down the stairs, leaving a despondent Jess in his wake. The boy began pondering a lot of questions, but even the query of how he was going to get dirt on Stan didn't burn as brightly as this:

_Is Luke ever going to be safe?_

XxxxXXXxxxX

**A/N:** Thank you for all of the reviews in the last chapter. They really helped get this out speedily. Do you want to see more chapters, more quickly? Then clicky the button and drop me a word on what you think! I don't think you understand how much I appreciate these; let me give you a hint: A WHOLE, WHOLE LOT!

_Thanks again to 123Kennedy._

Have nice days, everyone,

-Sarah


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Onward to chapter three!

XxxxXXXxxxX

Everything about this plan did not sit well with Jess. It was nearing 10 pm and crickets chirped monotonously in the darkness as the brown-haired young man hoisted himself over Brooke Cooke's white-columned balcony. Although the task wasn't unusual, (the bad boy had been sneaking through girls' windows since he was six) but Jess knew his deeds weren't as innocent as those of an unruly boyfriend, making picking the lock to Brooke's empty bedroom even harder.

As Jess wheedled the pick inside the keyhole, he peered attentively through the wispy pink curtains that draped over the balcony door's window. The room's owner was downstairs, touching up her makeup before leaving for an exclusive dinner party at her mother's charity. She better hurry, Jess thought, remembering the information Dirk had told him of her plans. It's almost 10. Wouldn't want to be late.

The lock announced its opening with a small click, and Jess turned the knob, letting himself in. The room was far less of an eyesore in the night, Jess noted as he hastily scanned the excessively fluffy room for any unknown and unplanned intruders. He was quietly shutting the door when something in his ear buzzed to life.

"What's your position?" Dirk's gruff voice rang in Jess' ear. He winced part from irritation and part from fear. The thought of Dirk just gave Jess the painful reminder that he was still stuck doing the dirty work for the nefarious couple. If the look Jess was giving Brooke's fluffy teddy bear could kill, the bear's stitches would burst and Jess would hear the joyful sound of Dirk suffering from a heart attack.

But neither happened.

Jess sighed, colorfully cursing the wicked man under his breath before pressing a button on his earpiece that activated the mic stretched across his cheek to his mouth. "I'm in the room," he whispered. Still eyeing the room with unease, expecting Brooke to pop out at any second.

"Start with any papers, letters, or diaries. If you don't find anything, just shuffle through her clothing drawers and books. And, Mariano, do not, I repeat, do not make a sound." Dirk warned with hints of a threat in his tone. This guy watched way too many covert-army-mission movies.

Jess rolled his eyes before reluctantly confirming he had heard the man. Dirk insisted Jess always affirm that he had heard him in order to ensure clear and effective communication; Jess knew Dirk's insistence was just another way to grow his god-complex whenever Jess mumbled "yes, sir" into the microphone.

Peeking through the crack of the slightly ajar door, Jess could make out the politician's perky, blonde daughter putting the final touches of her face together as she scrutinized herself in the entrance way's streak-free mirror. If there was one thing Jess recorded about the Cooke home, it was that it had a lot of lamps and a lot of mirrors. One could find either one of the two around any corner. Jess assumed one needed good lighting when staring haughtily at one's self every second of the day.

Keeping an attentive ear on any noise from the rest of the house, Jess crept across Brooke's plush rug to the vanity where a pink filing cabinet stood. Jess slipped a small LED light out of his pocket and twisted the top until he received enough light to read some of the letters sitting atop the cabinet. To anybody else, Jess would have looked like one of those calm, calculating spies seen in the action films, but Jess was anything but as his heart pounded in his chest and sweat beaded on his forehead, paying more attention to the slightest creak downstairs than the words on the letter from the Visa company.

"What did you find?" Jess jumped, nearly dropping the flashlight and letter at the sound of the voice. His heart slowed a few beats once he figured out it was just Dirk. He wasn't used to having a "partner" in the criminal escapades, Jess noticed, clenching his jaw at the maddening disturbance. "Jess, what did we talk about? I want you to answer me."

Jess tried his hardest to keep the bite out of his voice but found the goal near impossible. "I haven't found anything, and I can't concentrate on anything when you keep talking. But please, if you must disrupt, do share about how the weather is down there. I'm all ears."

"It's freezing, just like your butt's going to be if you keep up with that lip." Dirk grounded out, not finding Jess' wisecrack half as clever as Jess did. "Now alert me if you find something."

"Yessir…" Jess mumbled, trying to make the affirmation as garbled as possible. Continuing his search, Jess found himself pouring over billing reports. Maybe Brooke bought something that would unveil some political deep, dark secret? Unfortunately, a pipe bomb or pictures of senator's faces with big, red X's on it was just wishful thinking. Clothes, clothes, and more clothes, the transcript read plainly. Jess wondered how anybody could spend so much on an outfit when most of his measly paycheck went to car payments and books- You know, important stuff.

But just when Jess thought the search would be boring and completely uneventful, the doorbell rang, instantly setting off Jess' mental alarm. He strode quickly to the crack in the door and watched as Brooke, who had been fussing with the appropriate way to wear the scarf around her slender neck, tilted her head in confusion at the late-night visitor. She walked stiffly over in her too-high heels and fitted trench coat, twisting the golden knob to open the door.

"Michael!" she squealed in delight at her handsome and muscular boyfriend standing awkwardly at her doorstep. She clung to him tightly but finally released him to study him gladly. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Brooke," he squeaked, looking nervous and then recovering quickly with a suave expression. "Oh yeah, I just wanted to know if you wanted to do anything tonight. I brought wine, 1930 Classic merlot." He tempted, swirling the bottle around by the neck.

"Michael," she smiled, embarrassed and paranoid. "You know we're still underage. Anyways, I have a dinner party to head to."

"You sure? I was hoping we could just stay in tonight. Maybe flip on some Stefani and lay in each other's arms, sipping and humming along. It's pretty chilly out here; I think it'd be nice." Michael had turned on the charm and Brooke was melting under his words.

"You're terrible," she said, kissing him on the lips. "How can I possibly leave now?"

"Once you taste the forbidden fruit, you gotta suffer the consequences," Michael grinned, locking lips with the blonde again. She looked into his eyes, biting her glossy lips and holding tightly to his hand.

"Okay. You win. I'll go change into something a little more comfortable. Why don't you get comfortable in my room?" she suggested sexily, and Michael nodded in immediate agreement.

Jess didn't stick around to see where this was going. Michael had to simply climb the stairs and walk in Brooke's room to see Jess climbing down the balcony. The young man was trapped in here. Searching the room for an appropriate hiding spot, Jess' eyes darted to the closet. Too risky and probably packed to the brim with clothes. Next his eyes flicked to under the bed. It was high enough off the ground for him to fit but what if the young couple got too into it? Oh that's right: Ew.

Having no real time to complain about potentially awkward situations, the frazzled teen dived under the bed, scooting all of his appendages close to him and out of eyesight. He settled himself as comfortable as he could assume (considering the circumstances) and tugged down the pink bed-skirt just as Michael walked through the white door. Jess was able to make out his boots walking toward the bed and switching on the overhead light, flooding the room with brightness.

The moment the lights turned on, Jess' earpiece went off with a gruff yell of surprise: "Wait a second? What do you think you're doing? Turn that off! I gave you the flashlight for a reason, Jess. Don't draw attention to the room. The girl hasn't even left yet, for God's sake. Oh, you are in for it now, Mariano. Find what we need and get your butt down here right away! I've had enough of your tricks; you're toast." Holding his breath, Jess prayed that Michael was unable to hear the rant currently abusing his ears. He couldn't respond without risking the entire mission. Luke's life was in his hands. Jess swiftly detached the earpiece and mic, snapping the hi-tech member in two before placing it securely in his pocket.

Lying on his stomach and straining his neck to follow Michael's dress shoes pacing the floor, Jess watched as Michael found two glasses in Brooke's mini-fridge at the foot of the desk and popped the cork off the bottle to pour the wine. At this point, Jess could only make out sounds and the general direction in which people were walking. He wished the bed skirt shorter in order to make out the entire scene though. Good God, he felt like a pervert.

As if the feeling couldn't become any stronger, the door glided open, revealing what Jess assumed was a very sultry woman as Michael seemed to have stopped dead in his tracks, seemingly gawking.

"Hey there, stranger," Brooke purred, stalking almost cat-like over to the black-shoed man. Jess heard the sound of glass clinking together, then sipping, and then a sound which made him rather uncomfortable: lips smacking. He felt like the worst kind of intruder, and wished he had the ability to 

transport. The moaning and name-calling made the conditions doubly awkward for the young man stuffed under the mattress, which the handsome couple was tumbling backwards into.

Instantly, things started falling onto the floor faster than Jess found himself under the bed. A coat, bra, shoes, all sorts of items Jess found best to simply ignore.

"God, you're hot," he heard Brooke breathe and everything went silent for a moment before the mattress started moving again. The added weight left a spot of pressure that touched and rubbed at the crown of Jess' head, forcing him to rest it on the plush white carpet entriely. If anybody knew he was down here, he would have to kill himself.

As he tried to focus on ways to strangle himself with a knee-high sock he found lying underneath the bed with him, he noticed something glowing in Michael's coat pocket. Silently, Jess eased a Blackberry mobile device out of the maroon pocket. The device was vibrating, thus Jess decided it was best to turn it off so it wouldn't attract attention to the underside of the bed. Before killing its power completely though, something on the screen caught Jess' eye. It was the sight of the familiar name, "Stan Cooke." Upon further reading, Jess found it was a text message from Stan Cooke. Understandably, the young man couldn't remember if the toned teenager was working with the politician, ergo, out of curiosity, the brown-eyed boy clicked "OK" to open the message, which read the following:

"Mikey,

What's up? I heard the doorbell ring but you never came up to the room with me. I'm waiting for my wine, boo-bear.

XO,

Stanley."

Jess thought he would have a heart attack. The kid, who at present was having a grand old time with Brooke, was double-timing with her father?! This was insane. This was scandalous. But best of all, this was evidence! Jess smiled, happier than he thought he ever could be. This meant just one thing to Jess: Luke was safe.

Acting quickly and trying to suppress a cry of victory, Jess drew his other arm in and sent the text as well as a few pictures of the politician and Michael kissing to his personal email. Once the device confirmed the email was finally sent, Jess got rid of any evidence he had touched the Blackberry, then slid it back into Michael's suit jacket without error.

In your face, Dirk. Jess couldn't help think the cliché remark as he lay contently under the bed, still attempting to block out the "sounds of love" coming from above him. Triumphant success aside, Jess still had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

XxxxXXXxxxX

After regurgitating his lunch twice and trying to block out any and all sounds with the only thing more annoying than the sounds of someone else's personal life (Gwen Stefani), Jess had finally survived the hour-and-a-half long session of Michael and Brooke "doing it." Had Jess not discoverd the prized "Stan dirt," Jess was positive he would have died of embarrassment by now.

Thankfully, with a few noisy kisses and tipsy farewells, the two-timer and oblivious daughter parted ways: Michael down the stairs and out the door and Brooke to the first-floor bathroom to shower.

The moment two sounds of doors shutting were heard, Jess had scrambled out from under the bed and through the balcony door. Stealthily, the young man swung his legs over the balcony edge, hoping that Dirk hadn't abandoned him completely as he climbed down the terrace and landed softly on the well-cut grass. Jess squinted his eyes in the darkness, trying to make out the SUV Dirk and he had ridden together in.

Jess saw a red SUV driving by but hurriedly hid himself in a nearby bush once he noticed it was Michael's. After the car passed, Jess saw the headlights of another car blinking in the distance. He bolted for it.

Milliseconds after he opened the door, Jess' ears were hurdled with angry curses and round after round of insults spat by the red-faced politician.

"…What were you doing in there? I can't believe you had the nerve to break communication. You broke the earpiece, didn't you? That would be the only way I'd get static. That wasn't cheap. I'll make you pay for it, you little-"

"Dirk!" Jess yelled, his crooked mouth showing prominently as he tried to get the older man's attention.

"What!?" The politician relented a bit, blue eyes still blazing with fury. Jess' nostrils flared, tempted to retaliate. Jess knew he had to do this though; the only person that mattered still wasn't safe. He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply.

"I found the dirt," he stated, looking at the man. Dirk's eyes quickly extinguished their fire, overrun, instead, with a newfound confusion.

"What?" he asked, mouth agape, disbelieving.

"I found what we've been looking for. Here," Jess said, taking Dirk's own sleek Blackberry from the cup-holder and turning on the overhead car light in order to access the pictures clearly. Once he entered in his email and opened the message, the appalling pictures were visible on the luminescent screen in all their perverted glory. Jess handed the device over to Dirk, whose jaw dropped even farther down, if such a thing were possible. "Michael had come over tonight to meet Stan. He had wine, but Brooke intervened. That's why I was trapped up there so long."

Jess hoped that was the last time he would ever have to tell that distasteful story, and, fortunately, Dirk seemed to care very little about the sequel of events, eyes eating up the entire picture of his running opponent doing the dirty deed.

"What a catch…" Dirk mused, smiling. He suddenly grasped Jess by the back of his head and stuck their foreheads together. Jess pushed away, looking disgusted as if he'd just touched a toxic material, but the enthralled politician was stuck in his own happy world. "You did good, kid. Better than good. Great!"

As the older man continued to shake his head, doing everything to the picture except take it out to dinner and neck with it, Jess watched, mustering up the courage to ask his captor what was hopefully his final question. "Are you going to leave my uncle and me alone now?"

Dirk put his picture infatuation on pause as he turned his head to study the solemn-faced young man beside him. His suddenly lost its happiness, his serious face returning, and he nodded.

"Of course, Jess; that was the deal after all." Dirk said, sending Jess a crushing wave of relief. It was done. Luke was safe. He had finally found the light at the end of the tunnel and he was going to be able to see the one person he cared about breathe again. Jess couldn't help the crooked grin overtake his face as he looked out the window of the Porsche Ceyenne into the cold night air.

He was going home.

XxxxXXXxxxX

The pearl-blue SUV's brakes squealed in front of the house his captor's had imprisoned him in for that past two miserable days. Jess watched it with unease, turning around to face Dirk.

"What are we-" Jess never got to finish the question as his whole body ignited with tremors. A stun gun was pressed against his side through the thin material of his baby-blue button down shirt. Dirk smiled maliciously, enjoying the pain and betrayal that now registered fully on Jess' face. How could he have actually thought he was ever safe?

"I'm so grateful you were able to pull this off. It's gonna be fun leaking these to the press, but I have a feeling you might ruin all of it sooner or later. So just think of this little deal breaker as me cashing in some life insurance." He dug the taser in deeper, letting the shock course through every fiber of Jess' being. Once incapacitated but not fully KO'd, Jess watched as Dirk pulled out his cellphone, reaching his partner in crime who came out of the house seconds later.

Candace opened the door, catching Jess' body as it fell limply into her arms. She used all her strength to lift the weighty load back into the seat, fixing Dirk and his stun gun with an appalled look.

"I thought you said you wouldn't use that until you found some actual dirt on Stan, or did his mouth get to you again?" Candace said, nodding at Jess knowingly.

"He got it, Baby. We got the dirt on Stan. Take a look." Dirk handed his Blackberry over and, after a few awestruck moments, Candace uttered an overjoyed,

"Whoa." She gave it back to her boyfriend and focused eyes on the increasingly worried young man sitting helpless in the passenger seat. "And with him?"

"We're going to continue with the plan." And that was the last thing Jess heard before the man unloaded the rest of the stun gun's charge on him, scrambling Jess' brain into blackness.

By the time Jess came to, he was shivering. It was no wonder since it was a chilly autumn night, he was wearing a thin dress shirt and slacks, and, we can't forget the most important detail, he was lying face first in the shallow edge of a creak. As he breathed heavily, trying to move his arms and legs against the ropes they were confined in, water splashed against his face and his breath condensed in the late-night air. If he had a mirror, he'd see his lips were turning a light hue of blue.

CRACK! A boot landed harshly into Jess' stomach, causing him to curl into himself instinctively.

"Would you look at that? Seems our little sleeping beauty is deciding to join us." Dirk said, words dripping with malice. "Feeling okay there, Jess? Not for long." He struck the defenseless boy with his boot once more, this time in the face, leaving Jess bleeding profusely from the nose and snarling viciously.

"Why are you doing this?" Jess spat, outraged at the treatment. "I got the girl, snuck in the house, and found the dirt! I did everything you ever wanted me to! "

"That's true, Jess, everything except vanish. Like I said before, we're cashing in some life insurance." At this point, Dirk flipped Jess over with another heavy kick, and straddled the thrashing teen to the floor of the flowing creek. "I guess we don't have to protect this anymore." Dirk said, sounding a wet SMACK! as his fist hit the wet cheek.

Jess coughed and sputtered blood and water as Dirk continued to turn his face to raw meat. After the tenth or so straight punch, Jess wasn't exactly keeping count in his receding consciousness, Dirk stood, breathing raggedly.

"Time to end this," he panted, cracking his bleeding and bruised knuckles. He bent down and hooked his hand around the knot of Jess' tied hands, pulling the quickly fading victim along the rocky edge of the creek until the two arrived at the deeper river.

"Dirk!" Candace cried, rushing over, panicked. "What are you doing? We aren't going to kill him; we agreed on that."

"We have to do this, Candace, or else all of this, all of what we worked for, will be over. If we keep him alive, you can just forget about being my first lady because it's not going to happen once he spills his guts."

Candace sighed, uncomfortable. "I'm willing to take the fall for kidnapping, but murder is out of the question, Dirk."

Dirk looked irritated as he threw Jess' tied hands down, glaring at his girlfriend. "What do you propose we do then?"

Candace seemed to ponder this for a moment before a look of discovery graced her pretty features. "Is he unconscious?" she asked, looking at the sopping and panting boy on the watery floor.

"Does he need to be?" Dirk asked.

"If my plan's going to work, of course." Before Jess had time to even register what she had said, Dirk had grabbed him by the head and slammed him down, hard, against the rocky ground.

"Done," the man announced proudly.

"Load him up, then." She answered simply.

XxxxXXXxxxX

The blinds were drawn as Jess finally came to, keeping his eyes still closed to guard against the searing light, wondering if the unknown fate Candace had planned left him dead or paralyzed from the neck down. For lack of flames licking his sides or the feeling that he was floating on a cloud, Jess began testing his appendages to make sure none of them were permanently disabled.

Left leg: good. Right leg: fine. Left arm: super. Right arm: Wait… Holy- He couldn't feel his right arm! Jess' eyes flew open at this revelation, shooting up in his hospital bed to see the damage. Jess waited for his vision to stop swimming to realize that the only thing wrong with his arm was that there was a burly figure resting on top of it, cutting off the circulation.

Luke.

Relieved beyond belief, Jess smiled as big as his bruised and battered face would allow, attempting to pull his arm out from under his uncle to hug the man who had been his only concern for the past week. In his weakened state, Jess was forced to prod his uncle to consciousness in order to extricate his hand, an action that caused the man to wake with a start, stare at Jess with a look of incredulity mixed with concern, and then squeeze the living day-lights out of the teenager.

"You're alive," Luke breathed, still not letting his nephew go. Jess ignored the fact that the gesture smarted his injuries harshly, resting his head on Luke's shoulder and holding on for dear life.

"I'm alive," Jess echoed, not believing it himself. Jess didn't know, nor ever hoped to know, how Dirk and Candace solved the "Mystery of Keeping the Kid's Mouth Shut." The fact that he was alive, embracing the one person he truly cared about, was all that mattered.

Luke finally pulled away to wipe away the tears that had streamed down Jess' beat-up face. Jess was crying? The tousle -haired young man hadn't even realized this, but somehow couldn't find the energy to care.

Jess felt now was as good a time as any to finally tell his uncle how he felt. How much he loved him for taking him in, for giving a crap about what he did, and for protecting him from all the stuff Jess knew he was prone to getting into. But just as the boy opened his mouth, someone opened the door that made his whole mouth go dry, paralyzing him with shock and fear.

Candace.

This had to be a nightmare or her idea of a sick joke. It wasn't possible she'd ever be in the same room, nay city, as him after all the stuff she'd put him through. Why was she risking it now?

Burning with anger and disbelief, Jess spat, "What are _you_ doing here?"

The venom in his voice certainly caught Luke's attention who turned round to quirk an eyebrow at the younger man with displeasure.

"Jess, she's the one who saved you."

Okay now, _what?_

XxxxXXXxxxX

A/N: I know you lovely readers are probably getting tired of the Dirk/Candace plotline and lack of Luke/Jess goodness (I know I am). I promise there will be much, much more Luke/Jess, as well as some Luke/Dean and Jess/Dean, interactions in the next two chapters, cross my heart. To get a faster update, please bake me a tasty review!

Have nice days,

-Sarah


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Okay, even though I FEAR for my well-being after waiting so long to post this, here is the next chapter. I'm sorry it took so long. If I told you the reason, I would probably get a bunch of people outside my door, heckling me and my attention span.

People, seriously, we must all give thanks to **Polly **because she is the greatest human being on the planet earth. Not only does she write some of the greatest fiction this world has ever known she also helps out struggling authors who have had major motivational problems. Thanks so much, Polly! XOXO!

**Disclaimer:** Even if it was my birthday, I still wouldn't own.

XxxxXXXxxxX

"Saved me?" Jess repeated, directing his incredulity from the woman standing at the entrance of the hospital room to his worry-stricken uncle leaning over his bed. "She's the reason I'm here. I'm amazed you're here! The bomb-"

Luke took this as a chance to shake his head, interrupting with a bewildered: "Bomb? What bomb, Jess?"

"The one she planted in the house!" Jess exclaimed, getting more frantic the more unnerved Luke got at his nephew's ramblings. "Luke, this isn't some figment of my imagination, okay? It's Candace. She's the one who did this to me." Jess motioned wildly at his aching, broken body, wincing in the process.

"Did this to you?" Luke echoed, confused. "You came to her at her office, all beat up, and fainted right on her floor. She was the one who took you to the hospital."

"No, no, no," Jess just kept shaking his head the more Luke went on, increasing his uncle's concern. "NO! That's the farthest thing from the truth. I can't believe- Did she feed you that lie?"

Luke opened his mouth to answer, but Candace cut him off firmly. "No, I didn't. I have the whole thing on my surveillance tapes down at the realty office." Jess gaped. How did they...? "I'm very sorry we couldn't catch the man who did this to you, Jess, really I am." She calmly walked over to the other side of the bed, placing a warming hand on Jess' arm.

Jess flinched away, snarling, "Like hell you're sorry! Get your hands off me!"

"Jess, that's enough!" Luke reprimanded, trying to sound firm but unable to keep the underlying anxiety from his tone.

Jess regarded Candace with reproachful eyes, turning to stare at his uncle meaningfully. "No, I'm not going to stop. She has to pay for what she did to me, to you."

"Candace did nothing to me." Luke reassured with a softened tone, laying a hand atop Jess' head in an attempt to placate the boy's obstinate eyes.

"She did." Jess answered, unwavering. "She's the one who kidnapped me. Just give me a chance to explain-"

"I really have no clue what you're talking about..." Candace butted in, receiving a sharp growl from Jess.

"Shut up!" Jess snapped, unable to reign in his fury. Luke's turned his docile hold on Jess shoulder into a restraining grip. What was going on with his nephew? "Luke, I'm not making this up! She's lying!"

"I think you should talk to his doctor," Luke looked up to see Candace nodding with well-feigned concern. "He might know what's wrong with him."

"No, don't go, Luke. You have to believe me!" Jess pleaded, balling a fist in Luke's weathered green coat. Luke pried Jess fingers off his jacket, shaking his head.

"I'll only be gone for a moment," Luke reassured, patting Jess' hand in his own.

"No, Luke!" Jess' eyes were imploring and it took several tries until Luke finally wrestled his hand free from Jess' hold. Luke ignored his nephew's increasingly louder protests, his heart aching with each word until he finally left the room with a sigh.

With the click of the door announcing Luke's departure, Jess turned wary, distrustful eyes on the woman now confidently pacing the length of Jess linoleum-tiled hospital room. Jess readjusted himself on the lumpy plastic mattress to better glare at the devious realtor.

Candace was peeking through the blinds of the door's window, watching as Luke walked up to one of the desks a doctor was signing papers at. She smirked at the evident unease on the scruffy man's features.

"Poor guy..." She turned back to the boy on the bed, eyes sparkling. "He thinks you're insane, you know." She flashed Jess a cocky grin that made a vein throb in the youth's temple.

"I wonder whose fault that is." Jess said venomously, seething.

"Partly mine, mostly yours. You see, I'm not the one who just woke up from a concussion and started spouting some of the most ridiculous things ever heard. By the way, thanks for that. I mean you play your role so well. I thought I was going to have to feed you a script, but you convinced Luke of your insanity better than I ever could. My condolences." Jess glowered as Candace picked up a stray juice cup lying on Jess' rolling table.

"You're not going to get away with this." Jess barked, narrowing his eyes. "Luke trusts me way more than you."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, kid. Think about it: Who would you trust more? The rebellious teen who ran off to throw a little temper tantrum? Or the consoling friend who helped wipe the tears away? You tell me."

"Luke would never trust anyone like you!"

"We'll see about that. But make sure you call me when they put you on the crazy pills. Right now, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show." She peeled the foil cap off the juice cup and lifted it to her glossy lips. "Cheers."

The snide remarks were suddenly becoming too much for Jess. He had to do something, but all rational plots were out the window. Thus, without any regard to his angry bruises and tender wounds, he grabbed Candace by the front of her jacket, face screwed up in anger. He had every intention of killing her but managed to keep that one instinct under control.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Spit flew on Candace's face as Jess roared his anger at the woman who had literally turned his entire life upside down. Candace seemed only mildly effected by his outburst but used the position she was in to her advantage. Casting a glance out the window, she waited until a passing nurse arrived to let out a shriek of fright.

"Jess, please!" She cried. "You're scaring me!"

Almost instantly, a thin, short-haired woman in navy blue scrubs rushed in, witnessing the supposed assault on Candace. Jess eyed the nurse's flabbergasted expression with confusion, turning back to Candace and realizing how guilty he looked. The boy immediately loosened his grasp and tried to explain, hands open in surrender.

"It's not what you think-" the words flew out of his mouth, thick with panic, as the RN crept cautiously over, slowly pulling a syringe out of her pocket. Two other nurses trailed behind her, and, with another glance from his shifty, fearful eyes, Jess spotted his uncle enter with alarm etched in his features.

"What's going on?" Luke interrogated quickly, switching his confused stare from Jess to the nurses to Candace. "Jess, what happened?"

"I found your nephew about to attack her," A nurse cut Jess off, motioning to Candace who was feigning fright near the adjoining bathroom. "It's policy that we have to sedate him if he poses a harm to others."

"Wait a second." Luke said, putting out a halting hand, trying to wrap his head around what the nurse had told him. He turned to his nephew, searching the boy's dark-ringed eyes. "Jess?"

"I didn't hurt her." Jess said through gritted teeth, powerfully insistent. His eyes studied the syringe and nurse with tired unease. He flicked his gaze to his approaching uncle. "But she'll hurt us. I have proof. Don't fall for the act, Luke."

Luke swallowed, his throat uncharacteristically tight. His nephew looked small and vulnerable with his hair in disarray, face muddled with bruises, and eyes wide, beseeching his trust. The usually callous diner owner was at a loss. Usually, he would have believed the only family member he actually cared about in a heartbeat, but the things that Jess was asking of him! What did he expect him to say? They were quite possibly the most ridiculous ideas Luke could think of, especially since there was already so much evidence that negated his nephew's befuddling statements. He had seen the grainy surveillance tapes himself...

Either Jess was telling the truth or his nephew was suffering from some sort of psychotic break. Whichever the case, Luke wasn't entirely sure what he would do about either. Right then, Jess' well-being was the only thing on his mind, and with much hesitation, he finally conceded the nurse to inject the needle.

The two male nurses held the struggling, protesting teen's arms against the clean white sheets, ignoring the many curses and threats directed to the blonde woman in the corner of the room, who secretly enjoyed how events were unfolding. Luke's hand raked through Jess' hair tenderly as the needle poked through his arm and the young man's body relaxed drastically.

The male attendings released Jess' arms, assured the boy was completely motionless. Luke simply stared at his nephew, eyes searching and hand rested upon Jess' head. Jess still managed to keep his eyes flitting open slightly, fighting hard against the sedative flowing through his bloodstream.

"Pleazzze, trussst mmme, Luuuke," Jess slurred. He swallowed a few more times, trying to fend the strong pull of blackness away, before sliding his eyes shut and lying still.

Luke clutched Jess' hand in his own and closed his eyes, unable to look at the wholly pitiful sight of his bruised and baggy-eyed nephew lying lifelessly on the large hospital bed. The diner owner knew relief should have been washing over him by having Jess back, but since his nephew had returned, new, more looming concerns agitated him at every turn. Luke bowed his head and the hand he held Jess' in, praying a silent plea to whoever would listen.

XxxxXXXxxxX

When nighttime rolled around at Stars Hollow General, Luke got up stiffly from the chair he had been sitting in for the last two hours just watching his nephew's chest rise and fall from a drug-induced sleep. He slipped out the door and plodded across the sleek white tile over to the fourth floor's nurses station [1].

"Dr. Smith."

A man leaning over a clipboard looked up at him with expectant eyes. "Yes, can I help you?"

Luke walked over, paused for a moment before speaking. "I'm really worried about my nephew," Luke divulged, standing opposite the doctor assigned to Jess' care. The tall, black man suited in a long coat and stethoscope straightened himself from his paper signing and nodded knowingly.

"That's understood, Luke. You're nephew's body has undergone a lot of stress the past few days," Dr. Isaiah Smith answered. Luke ran a shaky hand through his hair. It was only moments ago that he had to listen to Jess' slurred pleas, the thought that he had allowed such a thing happen to him still sent chills down his spine.

"That's actually what I've been thinkin' about. Could this 'stress' that you're talking about cause some sort of-- I don't know, mental problem?" The words stung in Luke's throat, but he had to know. The boy was making little to no sense, worrying the scruffy diner owner out of his own mind.

"You're concerned that Jess has suffered a psychotic break because of his recent erratic behavior?" The doctor stated, picking up Jess' nearby chart and shuffling through the paper clipped on it.

Luke slowly tilted his head in acknowledgment, not willing to utter the exact implications themselves.

"It's highly possible, and, based on Jess' latest actions, I'd say, very likely. I'd like to get a second opinion of course, but you should be able to take Jess home by tomorrow." Luke's shot the doctor a disbelieving look.

"Tomorrow?" Luke reaffirmed, incredulous. "Jess has only been here for eight days. He's still healing. What about the second opinion?"

"It could take weeks for the specialist to finally come in. It's impossible to bring one on such short notice. Right now, Jess should just be in a calm environment with plenty of bed rest and liquids. I'll fill out a prescription for the pain, of course." The doctor picked up a pad of paper and started scrawling the pain meds while Luke looked on uneasily, mind bubbling with questions.

"What am I supposed to do if he… Isn't cooperating?" Luke almost scoffed. Jess never cooperated so why had he even bothered asking? The doctor didn't find the question odd though as he started writing up another prescription. He tore off the paper and handed both slips to Luke.

"This is a prescription for a drug used to prevent psychosis. It causes a lot of drowsiness and may cause some other unwanted side effects. You should only administer it in the event that Jess' condition becomes too much to handle." Dr. Smith warned gravely. "And if such a thing happens, I'd like for you to call me immediately and bring him in for testing. Here's my card. Remember, only use the drug if absolutely necessary."

After Luke had been equipped with the prescriptions and business card, he thanked the doctor and went back to Jess' room to sit restlessly in the hard-backed chair by the bed. The exhausted man dreamt fitfully of how he would face his nephew tomorrow morning, let alone take care of him.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Apprehensive and nervous, Dean strolled into Jess' hospital room, steering in front of him a leather-backed wheelchair. He noticed Jess sitting up in bed with a glazed over expression on his face. It was obvious the boy was on meds since he made no acknowledgement to the two towering figures in the room.

Luke stood on Dean's right, making the room look smaller and darker than it actually was. Luke leant over and laid a rough, placating hand on Jess' shoulder before speaking.

"Are you ready to go, Jess?" he asked, trying to keep the quiver out of his voice. Luke knew he had to be strong but to see his nephew just sitting there like a vegetable… Well, it was taking a lot out of the older man just to stand up straight. The young man dressed in sweats Dean had brought over from the house sat numbed in the bed, oblivious to the intense anxiety that swirled in the room.

Subtly, Dean studied the dark-circled eyes of his former rival and wondered vaguely what Jess would say to him if he were sober and more alert. He doubted Jess would have the energy for a full-on tackle, but with a sharp mind like Jess', he didn't need his fists to bring about some pain.

Dean pushed past the thoughts of how Jess was going to sting him once the drugs wore off, reasoning he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Instead, he turned to the worried eyes of Luke. The urge to ask childish questions like "What's wrong with him?" fretted at Dean's mind, but he overcame them with one that would maybe loosen the diner-owner up some.

"I'll take his stuff down to the truck. You need any help getting him in the chair?" Dean offered, pushing the wheelchair towards the bed. Jess continued to stare glossy-eyed ahead, causing Luke's frown to deepen.

"Nah, I got it; here." He handed Dean the patient belongings bag, and Dean left the uncle and nephew alone. Luke surveyed the boy with a look of bewilderment. How was he supposed to get the barely-there kid to do anything?

Luke sighed as he began awkwardly dragging Jess by the torso into the chair. Once in, Jess leaned over precariously before Luke quickly pushed him backwards. "Whoa, stay still." He said, looking absently at Jess and realizing he might as well have been talking to himself. "This is great?" he muttered, wiping a hand over his tired features.

A blond-haired custodian came in to clean up the room just as Luke was wheeling Jess out. For a split second, Luke thought it was Candace but then remembered that seeing her was impossible since they'd agreed she couldn't see Luke if Jess was around for the obvious reason that Jess wanted to kill her. Luke tried to ignore the way his stomach fluttered a little every time he saw her. _She had helped you in your time of vulnerability; that doesn't mean she likes you,_ Luke admonished himself harshly as he backed the wheelchair into the descending elevator. He had bigger things to stress over anyway.

Although his were eyes open, Jess had yet to show signs of life even after Luke had loaded him into the backseat of the truck, belted him in, and started the engine. Dean sat shotgun, sending glances at the rear-view mirror, wondering when the bomb that was Jess would finally detonate and explode. If Dean felt out of place with Luke when Jess was gone, he could only imagine the awkwardness with Jess back.

"I don't think he's in the mood to bite your head off," Luke joked, noticing Dean's stoic posture and constant squirming. Dean gave a small smile, embarrassed that Luke had noticed his discomfort and fear for the unresponsive boy in the backseat.

"Sorry," he mumbled instinctively. "Habit. Guess he just puts me on edge."

"You get used to it after a year or so," Luke reassured sarcastically. "Right now, I'm just worried about his mental health."

This caught Dean's attention since Luke had disclosed little information to him about Jess' medical record. "Mental health?"

Luke began to further explain what the doctor had told him. How Jess might have suffered a psychotic break and would need to see a specialist soon.

Dean blew out a breath, trying to wrap his head around the news. What could Jess have gone through when he ran away that would make him go crazy? Drugs? Gangs? He wasn't sure either was near the vicinity of the peace-loving Stars Hallow. If his curiosity got the best of him, Dean might dare ask Jess what had gone on… That is, if Jess would give him a sane answer.

Peaking another glance through the rear-view mirror, Dean examined the guy looking dully out at the gray, autumn sky. He never held Jess in any kind of priority, and Dean was pretty positive Jess thought equally or less of him. Through right then, he couldn't help the feeling of sympathy that overtook him. It felt weird since it was for a guy he'd heartily labeled his rival. It was funny how things changed.

"What are we supposed to do?" Luke's gaze on the road hardened at Dean's question, and his fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter. Okay, stupid question. Luke's probably been asking himself that since he saw Jess in the hospital bed.

"I guess… Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do anything cra-I mean, harmful." Luke tried. "The doctor gave me a prescription for some medicine in case he gets strung up. But, unless they have it in tranquilizer gun form, I doubt Jess is going to let me get within two feet of him with the stuff. I don't want to use it, but… The way he acted around Candace. I couldn't understand it."

Dean pursed his lips. The thought of Jess actually being crazy made a feeling of unease well up in his stomach. The young man didn't want to think he was the cause of the break, but when one took a good long look at the time-line, it was when Dean decided to move in that things became heated. He shut his eyes tightly, the thought making him ill.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Jess slept soundly most of the day in his new bedroom. Luke had thankfully already moved the bed into it so the boy didn't have to lay on a pile of blankets. The moving process was put at a grinding halt following Jess' disappearance, so it was back to unpacking for Dean and Luke.

More often than not, Luke would come across a box marked, "Jess." He'd then wonder if it was safe to put the kid and his things in the same room or if that would fall under "Things That He Could Commit Suicide With." The doctor had given the uncle a list of things Jess wasn't allowed to use until they could get a full psych-eval done, leading Luke to drop most of the "Jess" boxes in the dining room downstairs.

After a few more hours of hauling furniture and boxes into their appropriate room, Luke heard the phone ringing in the kitchen. He picked it up and his ears were immediately filled with the sound of a noisy ruckus.

"H-Hello? Who is this?" Luke realized he should seriously invest in some caller ID.

"Cesar!" Luke breathed a sigh of relief to hear the sound of his faithful employee, but the noise in the background was still discomforting.

"What's going on over there? Why are you yelling?" Luke interrogated.

"That's not me, it's the customers. Yeah, some reporters came to ask you questions. But since you're not here, they're ordering us out of business."

"Aw geez," Luke muttered, leaning his head heavily against the overhead cabinet. "I'll be right over to help you out. And by 'help' I mean kick those punks out of the diner."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later. " Cesar said, hanging up. Dean was coming down the stairs just as Luke was grabbing his keys.

"Where are you going?" Dean inquired. Luke looked up, startled, seemingly forgetting his home situation.

"Dean," Luke stated, his mind a mess from the thought of his diner being burnt to the ground. "Look, the diner is on the verge of oblivion so I need to head over there. I know this is asking a lot, but can you watch Jess while I'm out?"

Seconds ago, Dean would have blatantly said "no," but the pleading look on Luke's faces reluctantly changed his mind. "Um, sure, but what if he wakes up?"

"Just call me on the diner's phone. I should only be gone for a couple hours. Three hours tops."

"All right…" Although Dean sounded wholly unsure of himself. Luke nodded in thanks and grabbed his coat before heading out the door.

Dean sighed, hoping Luke made it back before Jess became coherent again.

XxxxXXXxxxX

Jess had been blinking his eyes for a good ten minutes, trying to remember what had happened and where he was. He felt jumbled as his mind evaded him from thinking one solid thought about the past and the present. Slowly, he sat up, and only when the intense pain in his head rattled his brain, did the events of the past few days come flooding back.

His breath became ragged and heavy while he tried to remember what else happened and why he was in this unfamiliar room. He was surrounded by four white walls and nothing else. Light streamed through the blinds of the window but it held no comfort for Jess, who was searching the room for one familiar thing. He looked down, his head blistering as whatever had stuffed it up was now slowly receding away. When he opened his eyes again, he noticed the blanket, his blanket.

That meant-

His door creaked open a little and he snapped his head up to look at that culprit. His stinging eyes took on a hard edge but softened a bit when he saw Dean's lanky form enter. The shaggy-haired guy actually looked more surprised to see him.

"You're up," Dean said, his voice almost cracking in what seemed to be… Surprise? Fear? Jess couldn't place it, making the boy skeptical.

"I am." Jess replied. He swallowed, his voice was horse and in desperate need of water. After clearing his throat, he ventured to ask, "Where am I?"

Dean seemed confused by the question and quirked an eyebrow. "Your house. The one you and Luke moved into."

Something clicked in Jess' head and a look of realization crossed over his features. How could he have forgotten? Well, after you go through a hostage situation, Jess rationalized, guess moving becomes a lot less important.

"Right," Jess replied, brushing off the weird looks Dean was giving him. "And where's Luke?"

If by some magical cue, the phone rang. Dean was tightly grasping the cordless in his hand so he quickly answered it. "Hello. Yeah, he woke up."

"Is that Luke?" Jess asked and Dean ignored him, making Jess' eyes turn to slits. What was going on? Why was Dean acting like a tightly-wound weirdo? The young man had to have answers. "Dean, let me talk to him."

Dean sighed, "Luke- He wants to talk to you. Okay." Hesitantly, Dean walked over to Jess and handed the phone over. Jess cast the taller boy a glare before placing the phone to his ear.

"Luke?"

"How are you feeling?" His uncle asked right away.

"Crappy." He could hear the man on the other line start, but he pressed on, undeterred. "Luke, I need to talk to you. Why aren't you here?"

"The diner is a mess because all of these small-town reporters heard about your disappearance." Luke sounded tired, like he had just finished tossing out half a dozen prying journalists.

Jess was surprised by this, but after a moment of thought, quickly became happy at the prospect. "That's great. Keep them there."

"What?!" Luke exclaimed. The man was about to ask "are you insane" but he didn't need that kind of confirmation. Instead he settled on a blatant, "No, they just want to make a big thing out of nothing."

"Nothing? Luke, haven't you heard anything I've been saying? I was kidnapped by Candace and her boyfriend!" Jess' start had made him grimace visibly and in seconds, Dean had knelt down beside him with a worry etched in his features. Jess sent him an evil eye, clearly telling the other boy to mind his own.

"Jess, you need to calm down and rest. We can talk about this later." Luke said calmly. His nephew was being extremely sensitive and volatile, bringing to mind the drugs the doctor had prescribed him. The man sincerely hoped he would never have to use them, but if Jess kept acting like this, Luke was afraid he'd have no other options.

When the pain subsided slightly, Jess spoke again. "Luke, we can't talk about this because you won't listen to me. I need-"

Luke cut him off, his voice firm and clearly agitated, "Jess, go to bed. We'll talk when I get back."

Even though Jess knew that wasn't going to happen, the young man realized it was impossible to argue. He slumped his shoulders and rested his elbow on his knew to run a shaky hand through his hair. "Okay, fine... Bye."

Jess pressed a button on the phone and let it drop to the bed. Dean had been listening to the Jess side of the conversation and couldn't help the bout of pity he felt for him. A sudden thought struck Dean that even he didn't understand: What if Jess was telling the truth? It was beyond ridiculous, considering_ his _side of the story involved a realtor and some senator, but anything was possible, right?

The injured young man had been picking at the bandage on his arm, ruminating fixedly on his conversation with Luke. Was the situation really this helpless? Would Candace and Dirk just walk away scott free? The very thought burned his insides. It couldn't end like this.

"He thinks you're crazy," Dean blurt out. He could barely believe his ears and by the look Jess was now giving him, neither could he. Why had he just out and out said that? Maybe it was because Dean doubted anything would have gotten through Jess' thick skull, especially since it was coming from Dean.

"What are you going on about?" Jess snapped and Dean pushed down the instinctual surge of antagonism.

Dean sighed, patience returning to him. "Luke. The doctors gave him some psych meds and now he's tempted to use them because he thinks you've got a mental problem."

"That doesn't make any sense. I don't have a mental problem." Worry laced Jess' words, not because he thought he had a mental problem but because Luke thought he did.

"Well, telling him these stories isn't exactly helping the situation." Dean said. Jess eyes became hard at the statement.

"They aren't stories, not that you'd believe me." He mumbled the last part then continued in a criticizing tone. "What do you care if Luke thinks I'm crazy anyway? Why are you even here?"

Dean opened his mouth and then shut it again, unsure of the real answer. Slowly, he said the little that he could make out, "I… Want to help you."

"Help me?" The dark-eyed boy repeated, smiling a little. Jess didn't buy that for a second. For God's sake, the _last _person to believe him would be Dean Forrester. "Right, I think I'll pass on that. Thanks for the offer though."

Dean's patience was slowly slipping away with every word out of Jess' mouth. Suddenly, they were back in high school and Dean was casting off all inhibitions so he could beat that arrogant smirk off the other guy's face. He had to push past those thoughts though (and remember that Jess had already sustained enough beatings for a lifetime) to make Jess understand. "If what you're saying is true and those people really did kidnap you, something should be done."

Jess was silent at the reply. It was weird how this guy, who he had labeled an enemy ever since he arrived in Stars Hallow, was on the exact same page he was. Jess also had to admit that Dean was the only one who had offered help, something he desperately needed in his current condition. It seemed the only thing left _to do _was trust his once enemy, as weird as it sounded. Finally and to Dean's surprise, Jess accepted with a heavy, "All right. But we need to start searching the house."

"Umm, for what?"

"The bomb." Dean raised his eyebrows. That was definitely not the answer he was expecting. On second thought,

Maybe Jess was crazy…

XxxxXXXxxxX

A/N: Right, right, I know I still suck for taking this long. But the next and final chapter should be up faster. My new resolution is to finish this stuff once I start them, so expect the next chapter fairly soon. Thanks for any feedback!

[1] This is where I work! I'm the gal you hear when you press the call button. MUHAHAHA! Your fate lies in my hands, Jess! Okay, not really… Whatevs. :D


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